Real estate sector opens new portal for sales

The usual way of selling a home — in-person showings, mostly on demand — has long bothered Charlie Ashby. In the business for some 50 years, the president of Fort Myers-based VIP Realty says agent security and safety is a constant worry when one of the firm’s 150 agents are showing property.

“We lock our cars, [and] we put codes on our phones,” Ashby says. “But we open up our homes to people we don’t know [for listings]. It’s an old way and not a smart way to sell homes.”